Cleaning apparatus for electrophotography

ABSTRACT

A cleaning apparatus for an electrophotographic apparatus comprising an elastic cleaning blade with a holder arranged along a surface of a photosensitive member for cleaning the toners which still remain on the surface of a photosensitive member even after transferring of developed images to a copying paper is finished. The elastic cleaning blade preferably contacts with the surface of the photosensitive member in such a way that the axis of the blade and a tangent to said surface at the pre-cleaning side subtends an obtuse angle specified in relation with the axis line of the blade in the holder. The holder disposes the elastic cleaning blade relative to the photosensitive member to engage a substantially upwardly moving surface portion of the photosensitive member.

This is a .Iadd.continuation, of application Ser. No. 693,893, filedJune 8, 1976, and now abandoned, which is a Reissue of Ser. No. 361,164,filed May 17, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,691, issued January 14,1975, which is a .Iaddend. continuation, of application Ser. No.120,256, filed Mar. 2, 1971 and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for electrophotographyand, more particularly, to a cleaning apparatus for removing tonersremaining on a photosensitive member after transferring the images in anelectrophotographic reproduction device of image-transferring type.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Representative conventional cleaning apparatuses are a web cleaningapparatus and a fur brush cleaning apparatus. With respect to the webcleaning apparatus, the material of web is limited and the running costis expensive, and further, cleaning ability varies depending upon thehumid state of the web. In addition, the web should be frequentlyexchanged, and when reproduction of high density is continuously carriedout for a long time, the cleaning can not be satisfactorily effected.Referring to the fur brush cleaning apparatus, the apparatus is usuallyof a large scale since the fur brush should be rotated at high speed,and the life of fur brush is disadvantageously short. In addition, anapparatus for removing the scattered developer by suction is necessary.Further, when reproduction of high density is continued for a long time,the cleaning capacity is not sufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, the cleaning apparatus for anelectrophotographic apparatus of a developed image transferring typecomprises an elastic cleaning blade arranged along a surface of aphotosensitive member after transferring images and the elastic cleaningblade is supported by a holder. The holder disposes the elastic cleaningblade relative to the photosensitive member to engage a substantiallyupwardly moving surface portion of the photosensitive member. Theelastic cleaning blade preferably contacts with the surface of thephotosensitive member to be cleaned in such a way that an angle θ₁, atthe pre-cleaning side, subtended by an axis of the portion of the bladecontacting the photosensitive member and a tangent line to the surfaceof the photosensitive member at the contact point and an angle φ₁, atthe pre-cleaning side, subtended by an axis of the portion of the bladesupported by the holder and the above-mentioned tangent line satisfy thefollowing relation:

    θ.sub.1 >φ.sub.1 >π/2

The relation will be more fully understood by referring to FIG. 10.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel cleaning apparatussolving the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior arts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show embodiments of cleaning apparatus forelectrophotography according to this invention where a plurality ofelastic blades are used as the cleaning member;

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show other embodiments of the blade according to thisinvention;

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show embodiments of this invention where an elasticcleaning blade and a cleaning roller are employed;

FIG. 8 is a conventional cleaning blade;

FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 show embodiments of this invention and arediagrammatical cross sectional views for explaining conditions of bladearrangement with respect to the photosensitive member;

FIG. 11 shows a cross sectional side view of an embodiment of thisinvention;

FIG. 12 shows a state of exchanging the blade; and

FIG. 13 shows a diagrammatical cross sectional view of a modifiedembodiment of a blade according to this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a drum photosensitive member 1 is cleaned by blades2₁ -2_(n) fixed to holders 3. Blades 2₁ -2_(n) are made of elasticmaterial such as elastic synthetic resins and rubbers. Toners scratchedoff from the photosensitive member 1 by blades are collected to a tonerreceiver 4. In FIG. 1, some of plural blades 2₁ -2_(n) are arrangedunder the axis line X--X of the photosensitive member 1 and thephotosensitive member 1 is rotated counterclockwise and toner Tremaining on the photosensitive member is scratched off by the firstblade 2₁ and falls down to a toner receiver 4 over the surface of theblade 2₁ through the other end of the blade 2₁. On the other hand, theremaining toner T not removed by the first blade 2₁ is removed by thesecond blade 2₂ and in a similar way the cleaning is repeatedsubsequently.

Referring to FIG. 2, the photosensitive member 1 is rotated clockwiseand the remaining Toner 2 is scratched off by a blade 2_(n) at the nthstep and the toner thus scratched off falls down directly to the tonerreceiver 4 and therefore, the toner receiver 4 should be placed nearerto the photosensitive member 1 than FIG. 1. In general, a remainingtoner not removed by a blade 2_(n) at nth step is removed by a blade2_(n-1) at (n-1)th step (in FIG. 2, corresponding to the second step)and the toner thus removed once falls down to blade 2_(n) at the nthstep and then to the toner receiver 4. In a similar way, the cleaning isrepeated.

Referring to FIG. 3, all blades 2₁ -2_(n) are arranged above the axisline X--X and in a way similar to FIG. 2 the cleaning of thephotosensitive member 1 is carried out, but a sheet 5 is necessary forintroducing toner scratched off by the nth blade 2_(n) to a tonerreceiver 4. In this case, the sheet 5 contacts lightly with thephotosensitive member 1, but does not scratch off the remaining toner onthe photosensitive member. The sheet 5 prevents the toner scratched offby a blade 2_(n) from falling down outside of the cleaning box.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown an embodiment where another shape ofblade is employed, that is, plural blades 6₁ -6_(n) have tonerscratching portion 7 and toner receiving surface 8 and are fixed to aholder 3. Some blades are placed under the axis line X--X of thephotosensitive member 1. When the photosensitive member 1 rotatesclockwise, the remaining toner T is scratched off by a blade 6, with itsscratching portion 7 and the toner thus .[.scratch.]. .Iadd.scratched.Iaddend.off directly falls down to a toner receiver 4. On the otherhand, the remaining toner which is not removed by the scratching portion7 of blade 6₁ is removed by a scratching portion 7 of a blade 6₂ and thetoner thus removed is introduced into a toner receiver 4 by way of atoner receiving surface 8 of a blade 6₁. The cleaning of thephotosensitive member 1 is subsequently repeated in a way as mentionedabove.

Referring to FIG. 5, all blades are arranged above the axis line X--X ofthe photosensitive member 1 and the cleaning of the photosensitivemember 1 is effected in a way similar to FIG. 4, but toner scratched offby the scratching portion 7 of a blade 6₁ is introduced to a tonerreceiver 4 using a sheet 5. In this case, the sheet 5 is arranged in away similar to FIG. 3 and serves similarly.

In the above embodiments a plurality of blades for scratching off tonerare arranged along the surface of the drum photosensitive member 1 afterthe transferring, and therefore, the cleaning of the photosensitivemember 1 can be repeated at each blade to clean completely thephotosensitive member. Since each blade .[.is.]. .Iadd.does .Iaddend.not.[.necessary to.]. .Iadd.necessarily .Iaddend.have such a strongcontacting pressure against the photosensitive member 1 as compared witha case where only one blade is used for cleaning .[.and thereby.]. thesurface of photosensitive member 1 is not damaged. Each blade is soarranged that toner scratched off from the surface of photosensitivemember 1 can be introduced into a toner receiver 4 by way of each bladeand therefore, any particular sheet for guiding the toner is notnecessary. Thus, the cleaning apparatus can be of a small type andinexpensive.

When .[.an.]. electroconductive blades are used and a bias voltage isapplied thereto so as to .[.absorbing.]. .Iadd.absorb .Iaddend.and.[.removing.]. .Iadd.remove .Iaddend.the remaining toner T, the cleaningof photosensitive member 1 can be conducted more completely.

Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, further embodiments according to thisinvention are illustrated. .[.Blades.]. .Iadd.A blade .Iaddend.7 having.[.holders.]. .Iadd.holder .Iaddend.3 similar to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.[.are.]. .Iadd.is .Iaddend.fixed to a cleaning box 9 with holders. Thecleaning blade may be made of synthetic resin such as Teflon (Tradename, supplied by E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co. Inc.), silicon rubber,polyester, and polyethylene, or rubbers. The surface of an elasticroller 10 is coated with a cleaning coating 11, e.g., cloth, suede, andjersey and the hardness of the coating is preferably about 20°. A thinsynthetic resin (such as polyester) sheet 5 is provided to guide thetoner scratched off from the surface of photosensitive member 1 to atoner receiver 4 provided removably at the bottom of the cleaning box 9.

When the photosensitive member 1 rotates to a direction as shown by thearrow, most of toner T remaining on the surface of the photosensitivemember 1 .[.are.]. .Iadd.is .Iaddend.scratched off by a blade 7 and thenfalls down to a toner receiver 4 by way of a sheet 5 and further thetoner T' not removed by blade 7 is removed by rubbing with an elasticroller 10 and falls down to a toner receiver 4 by way of a tonerreceiving surface 8 and thereby the photosensitive member 1 iscompletely cleaned.

In FIG. 6, a cleaning brush 12 rotating to a direction as shown by thearrow removes the toner on the cleaning coating 11 and the tonerattached to the brush is removed by a bar 13. Scattered toners are takenout through a duct 14. In FIG. 7, the toner on the cleaning coating 11is removed by a vacuum duct 15.

According to the above-mentioned embodiments, both a blade and anelastic roller which are different from each other in point of functionare used and this combination can compensate each drawback to result ina complete cleaning. When a blade alone is employed, some portions ofthe photosensitive member are not completely cleaned, but a part oftoner still remains on the photosensitive member in a form of streaksince a completely uniform contact between the blade and thelongitudinal line on the surface of a drum photosensitive member is noteasily obtained. On the contrary, when an elastic roller alone is used,the insufficient cleaning appears as a whole surface smudge.

In the above embodiments, these two cleaning means are combined toscratch off about 90 percent or more of the remaining toner by the bladeand clean the still remaining toner in a form of streak by the elasticroller uniformly contacting with the photosensitive member in alongitudinal direction. Since the toner in a form of streak is so littlethat the load to the roller is not heavy and neither the whole rollerbecomes dirty. Therefore, the cleaning roller is used only for finishingand further the contacting force to the photosensitive member may beweak. And, therefore, the photosensitive member is not damaged.

In addition, blades and sheets are inexpensive and simple and theexchange thereof is easy.

It is very convenient that a part of the cleaning cloth around theroller is adhered by an adhesive for facilitating the exchange of thecleaning cloth.

Referring to FIG. 8, there .[.have.]. .Iadd.has .Iaddend.been used anelastic blade 16 contacting slantingly with the photosensitive member 1in conventional devices and the cleaning has been carried out at theacute angle side of angles made between the photosensitive member 1 andthe blades. This structure is far better than a cleaning deviceutilizing a fur web, but the resultant force R of a vertical reactionforce N which the blade 16 receives from the photosensitve member 1 anda friction force F between the photosensitive member 1 and the blade 16is in a direction for leaving the blade 16 from the photosensitivemember 1. Therefore, a force obstructing the toner is so weak that tonerparticles often .[.enters.]. .Iadd.enter .Iaddend.under the blade 16 andfurther when one particle enters under the blade, the entering of tonerparticles easily propagates itself over the whole length of the blade.As the result, the blade should be often dismantled to clean the topedge portion of the blade.

Referring to FIG. 9, the disadvantage as mentioned above is eliminatedby effecting the cleaning at the obtuse angle side of angles madebetween the blade 16 and the photosensitive member 1. In this case, onepart of the resultant force R is stored as an elastic strain of bladeand all the other part of the resultant force works as a cleaning force.The blade 16 is pushed to the wedge-like space between the holder 17 andthe photosensitive member 1, that is, a direction of the frictionalforce F, .[.and thereby.]. .Iadd.and forms an angle between the endsurface of the blade and an uncleaned portion of the photosensitivemember surface of not more than 90°, as shown in FIG. 9. Thereby,.Iaddend.the toner-obstructing force is far larger than that in FIG. 8and entering of toner particles under the blade is almost completelyobstructed.

Referring to FIG. 10, assuming a tangent line Z--Z passing theintersecting point P of an extension line of the axis Y--Y of the holder17 and the photosensitive member 1, among the angles subtended by lineZ--Z and line Y--Y, the angle at the pre-cleaning side and the angle atthe post-cleaning side are designated as φ₁ and φ₂, respectively. Amongthe angles subtended by the tangent line Z--Z and the axis line of thebending portion of the blade 16, the angle at the pre-cleaning side andthe angle at the post-cleaning side are designated as θ₁ and θ₂,respectively. When these various angles are in the following relations:

    θ.sub.1 >φ.sub.1

    θ.sub.2 <φ.sub.2

    π/2 ≦θ.sub.1 ≦π,

a good result is obtained. The relation

    θ.sub.1 ≅2/3π

is preferably used.

The optimum value of angle θ₁ of blade 16 varies depending upon physicalproperties of material (e.g., hardness) and effective length (length ofthe blade outside of holder 17) of blade 16. In general, there areobtained good results at hardness of 30°-90°, thickness of 2-10 mm. andeffective length of 10-40 mm. For example, θ₁ ≅150° is optimum forsilicone rubber having hardness of 80°, thickness of 7 mm and effectivelength of 30 mm. Upon selecting a blade with respect to the material,there are taken into consideration surface properties of thephotosensitive member such as a coefficient of friction between theblade and the insulating layer at the surface of the photosensitivemember, modulus of elasticity and the like, and peripheral velocity. Ingeneral, there are preferably used synthetic rubbers such as urethanerubber, nitrile rubber, neoprene rubber and silicone rubber, and naturalrubber. In case of liquid development, urethane rubber, nitrile rubberand neoprene rubber are preferable. In the drawing attached hereto,there are shown only drum type photosensitive members 1, but it will beunderstood that the above matters referring to a cleaning blade may besimilarly applied to a plate type photosensitive member.

Referring to FIG. 13, .Iadd.the blade is formed in two layers 18 and 16,wherein .Iaddend.an arc-shaped supporting member 18 which is harder thanthe blade 16 is provided along the flexible blade 16 to strengthen theblade 16 simultaneously retaining a desirable softness at the edgeportion contacting with the photosensitive member 1 and thereby thewhole length of the photosensitive member 1 can contact uniformly withthe photosensitive member 1. Further, it is also effective to use at theedge portion of the blade 16 an elastic material of high abrasionresistance, high solvent-proof and low coefficient of friction such assilicone rubber and Teflon and use at the other portions of the blade 16an inexpensive .[.materials.]. .Iadd.material .Iaddend.such as neoprenerubber and metallic elastic material.

Referring to FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, there is provided a cleaning cover 9for preventing toners from scattering, and packings 30 are provided atboth ends of the photosensitive drum corresponding to the opening of thecover 9 so as to seal as far as possible. At the upper part of the blade16 there is provided a plate 19 and the blade is removably fitted to theholder in a cartridge system. Holder is composed of a main part 17₁ anda movable part 17₂ movably attached to the main part 17₁, and the mainpart 17₁ is rotatably fitted to the both side plates of the cover 9 withbracket 21 and shaft 22. Cam 23 is fitted to a cover 9 with a shaft 24,and a holder stopper is represented by 25.

When cam 23 is .[.loosed.]. .Iadd.loosened .Iaddend.by a knob outside ofcover 9, holder 17₁, 17₂ hangs down around shaft 22 to a directionleaving from photosensitive member 1 due to the own weight of holder asillustrated in FIG. 12. Since the distance between the main part 17₁ andthe movable part 17₂ can open, to some extent, against a plate spring20, blade 16 can be inserted between the main part 17₁ and the movablepart 17₂. It is preferable to form a bending part 19₁ at the upper partof the plate 19 and hang the bending part 19₁ on the movable part 17₂ soas to prevent the blade 16 from falling down and, further, this servesto set the position in a vertical direction. When cam 23 is fastened,holder 17₁, 17₂ is pushed by cam 23 and stopper 25 to hold tightly theblade 16. These various parts should be so designed as to satisfy theangle relations among blade, holder and photosensitive member asmentioned above. Cover 9 may be rotatably fitted to the housing of thecopying machine with the shaft 26 for the purpose of facilitating theremoving of blade 16.

Toners scratched off by the blade 16 are introduced to the bottomportion of the cover by way of a guide plate 27 and then transferred toa recovery box by a screw conveyor 28 followed by an appropriatetreatment for reuse. It is not desirable that toners deposit around theedge of blade 16 contacting the photosensitive member 1 since suchdeposited toners cause reduction of cleaning ability and lowering ofblade life due to abrasion of the blade. Therefore, air or a liquid maybe ejected from a nozzle 29 to the edge portion to prevent such deposit.In place of ejection, vacuum suction also may be used. Such removing ofdeposited toner is far more important for a liquid developing systemthan for a dry developing system since a liquid developer usuallycontains a fixing agent and removing of the dried or half-dried toner isextremely difficult. Therefore, it is effective to weaken theadhesiveness of toners to the photosensitive member by ejecting a liquidsuch as Isopar (trade name, supplied by ESSO) and Freon (trade name,supplied by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc.) and to scratch off thedeposited toners.

The cleaning apparatus according to this invention is very effective forcleaning a photosensitive member of electrophotographic apparatus. It isparticularly useful for a photosensitive member having a surfaceinsulating layer which is subjected to primary charging, imagewiseexposure simultaneously with secondary charging of polarity opposite tothat of the primary charging or AC corona discharging and, if desired,whole surface exposure.

The above-mentioned electrophotographic methods can produceelectrostatic latent images having surface potential as high as severalV to 2000 V on the insulating layer and the resulting latent image isdeveloped with a toner to form a visual toner image, which is thentransferred to a copying paper or web. Thereafter, toner remaining onthe surface of the photosensitive member is taken away by a cleaningmeans. The photosensitive member having an insulating layer at thesurface has an advantage that the photoconductive layer present underthe insulating layer is not damaged by the cleaning member, but the veryhigh surface potential on the insulating layer disadvantageously rendersa complete cleaning of toner remaining surface very difficult. However,according to the cleaning apparatus of this invention, the completecleaning is possible.

We claim:
 1. A cleaning apparatus for an electrophotographic copyingdevice wherein an electrophotographic latent image formed on the surfaceof a photosensitive member is moved past a series of processing stationsincluding a developing station at which said latent image is developedwith toner to form a toner image and a transfer station at which saidtoner image is transferred to copying material, comprising an elasticcleaning blade for removing residual toner from said photosensitivemember after transfer of said toner image to said copying material, saidresidual toner being scratched off in the direction opposite to that ofthe movement of said photosensitive member, one end of said elasticcleaning blade having a cleaning edge, and holder means for supportingthe opposite end of said elastic cleaning blade and disposing saidcleaning edge in contact against the surface of said photosensitivemember, said holder means disposing said elastic cleaning blade relativeto said photosensitive member to engage a substantially upwardly movingsurface portion of said photosensitive member, said elastic cleaningblade being placed above the horizontal axis of a rotary member carryingsaid surface, said holder means disposing said elastic cleaning bladerelative to said photosensitive member at an angle θ₁, at thepre-cleaning side, subtended by the axis of the end portion of the bladecontacting the photosensitive member with said cleaning edge and astraight line touching the surface of the photosensitive member at thecontact point, and at an angle .[.θ.]..Iadd.φ.Iaddend.₁, at thepre-cleaning side, subtending by the axis of a portion of the blade nearsaid .[.opposide.]. .Iadd.opposite .Iaddend.end which is supported bysaid holder means and said line, said angles θ₁ and.[.θ.]..Iadd.φ.Iaddend.₁ satisfying the following relation:

    θ.sub.1 >φ.sub.1 >π/2.


2. A cleaning apparatus for an electrophotographic copying devicewherein an electrophotograhpic latent image formed on the surface of aphotosensitive member is moved past a series of processing stationsincluding a developing station at which said latent image is developedwith a toner to form a toner image and a transfer station at which saidtoner image is transferred to copying material, comprising, incombination, an elastic cleaning blade for removing residual toner fromsaid photosensitive member after transfer of said toner image to saidcopying material, one end of said elastic cleaning blade having acleaning edge, and holding means for supporting the opposite end of saidelastic cleaning blade and disposing said cleaning edge in contactagainst the surface of said photosensitive member to scratch off saidresidual toner in a direction opposite to that of the movement of saidphotosensitive member, said holder means disposing said elastic cleaningblade relative to said photosensitive member to engage a substantiallyupwardly moving surface portion of said photosensitive member.
 3. Acleaning apparatus according to claim 2 in which there are a pluralityof cleaning blades and holder means.
 4. A cleaning apparatus accordingto claim 3 wherein said plurality of blades are placed above thehorizontal axis of a rotary member carrying said surface and there isprovided a sheet for guiding the toner scratched off said photosensitivemember to a toner receiver, said toner being collected bygravitationally falling.
 5. A cleaning apparatus according to claim 2 inwhich said cleaning blade has a toner scratching part and a tonerreceiving part.
 6. A cleaning apparatus according to claim 2 furthercomprising an elastic cleaning roller coated with a cleaning memberarranged after said cleaning blade and a toner collecting portion forcollecting toners scratched off said photosensitive member.
 7. Acleaning apparatus according to claim 2 in which said cleaning bladeconsists of a first layer and a second layer, the modulus of elasticityof said first layer being substantially greater than the modulus ofelasticity of said second layer.
 8. A cleaning apparatus according toclaim 2 in which only the end portion of said cleaning blade having saidcleaning edge is composed of an elastic member having high abrasionresistance and high solvent resistance.
 9. A cleaning apparatusaccording to claim 2 in which said holder means is provided movably withrespect to said photosensitive member and said cleaning blade isremovably fitted to said holder means in a cartridge type .[.fit.]..Iadd.system.Iaddend.. .Iadd.
 10. A cleaning apparatus for anelectrophotographic copying device wherein an electrophotographic latentimage formed on the surface of a medium is moved past a series ofprocessing stations including a developing station at which said latentimage is developed with toner to form a toner image and a transferstation at which said toner image is transferred to copying material,said cleaning apparatus comprising an elastic cleaning blade forcleaning the surface of said medium for repeated use after transfer ofsaid toner image to said copying material, said elastic blade having acleaning edge, and cartridge system holder means for holding the otheredge of said elastic cleaning blade and disposing the cleaning edge incontact with the surface of said medium to be cleaned, said cartridgeholder means including a main support member for supporting one side ofsaid cleaning blade and an opposed support member for supporting theother side of said cleaning blade, said main and opposed support membersremovably supporting said cleaning blade in said cartridge holder means..Iaddend..Iadd.
 11. A cleaning apparatus as in claim 10, wherein saidcartridge holder means disposes said cleaning blade against said surfacein counter-direction with respect to the direction of movement of saidsurface. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 12. A cleaning apparatus as in claim 10 whereinsaid cleaning blade includes a support plate adjacent said other edge..Iaddend..Iadd.
 13. A cleaning apparatus for an electrophotographiccopying device wherein an electrophotographic latent image formed on thesurface of a medium is moved past a series of processing stationsincluding a developing station at which said latent image is developedwith toner to form a toner image and a transfer station at which saidtoner image is transferred to copying material, said cleaning apparatuscomprising an elastic cleaning blade for cleaning the surface of saidmedium for repeated use after transfer of said toner image to saidcopying material, said elastic blade having a cleaning edge, andcartridge system holder means for holding the other edge of said elasticcleaning blade and disposing the cleaning edge in contact with thesurface of said medium to be cleaned, said cartridge holder meansincluding a main support member for supporting one side of said cleaningblade and an opposed support member for supporting the other side ofsaid cleaning blade, said main and opposed support members removablysupporting said cleaning blade in said cartridge holder means and meansfor rotatably mounting said cartridge holder means relative to saidsurface of said medium for movement of said cleaning blade away from thesurface of said medium. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 14. A cleaning apparatus as inclaim 13, wherein said cartridge holder means disposes said cleaningblade against said surface in counter-direction with respect to thedirection of movement of said surface. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 15. A cleaningapparatus as in claim 13, wherein said cleaning blade includes a supportplate adjacent said other edge. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 16. A cleaning apparatusfor an electrophotographic copying device wherein an electrophotographiclatent image formed on the surface of a medium is moved past a series ofprocessing stations including a developing station at which said latentimage is developed with toner to form a toner image and a transferstation at which said toner image is transferred to copying material,said cleaning apparatus comprising an elastic cleaning blade forcleaning the surface of said medium for repeated use after transfer ofsaid toner image to said copying material, said elastic blade having acleaning edge, and cartridge system holder means for holding the otheredge of said elastic cleaning blade and disposing the cleaning edge incontact with the surface of said medium to be cleaned, said cartridgeholder means including a main support member for supporting one side ofsaid cleaning blade and an opposed support member for supporting theother side of said cleaning blade, said main and opposed support membersremovably supporting said cleaning blade in said cartridge holder meansand means for supplying a fluid to the area where the cleaning edge ofsaid cleaning blade is in contact with said surface of said mediumwhereby deposit of toner during cleaning operation is prevented..Iaddend..Iadd.
 17. A cleaning apparatus as in claim 16, wherein saidcartridge holder means disposes said cleaning blade against said surfacein counter-direction with respect to the direction of movement of saidsurface. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 18. A cleaning apparatus as in claim 16,wherein said cleaning blade includes a support plate adjacent said otheredge. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 19. A cleaning apparatus as in claim 16, whereinsaid fluid is a liquid. .Iaddend. .Iadd.
 20. A cleaning apparatus forelectrophotographic copying device wherein an electrophotographic latentimage formed on the surface of a photosensitive medium is moved past aseries of processing stations including a developing station at whichsaid latent image is developed with toner to form a toner image and atransfer station at which said toner image is transferred to copyingmaterial, comprising an elastic cleaning blade for cleaning the surfaceof said photosensitive medium for repeated use after transfer of saidtoner image to said copying material, said elastic blade having acleaning edge, and cartridge system holder means for supporting theother edge of said elastic cleaning blade and disposing the cleaningedge in contact against the surface of said photosensitive medium to becleaned after transfer of said toner image, said cartridge holder meanshaving a main support member for supporting one side of said cleaningblade and an opposed support member for supporting the other side ofsaid cleaning blade, said main and opposed support members removablysupporting said cleaning blade in said cartridge holder means, means forrotating said cartridge holder means for movement relative to saidsurface medium to permit movement of said cleaning blade away from saidmedium and means for ejecting fluid adjacent the area where the edge ofcleaning blade is in cleaning position to prevent deposit of tonerduring cleaning operation. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 21. A cleaning apparatus asin claim 17, wherein said cartridge holder means disposes said cleaningblade against said surface in a counter-direction with respect to thedirection of movement of said surface. .Iaddend. .Iadd.
 22. A cleaningapparatus as in claim 20, wherein said cleaning blade includes a supportplate adjacent said other edge. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 23. A cleaning apparatusfor an electrophotographic copying device wherein an electrophotographiclatent image formed on the surface of a medium is moved past a series ofprocessing stations including a developing station at which said latentimage is developed with toner to form a toner image and a transferstation at which said toner image is transferred to copying material,said cleaning apparatus comprising an elastic cleaning blade forcleaning the surface of said medium for repeated use after transfer ofsaid toner image to said copying material, said elastic blade having acleaning edge, and cartridge system holder means for holding the otheredge of said elastic cleaning blade and disposing the cleaning edge incontact with the surface of said medium to be cleaned, said cartridgeholder means including a main support member for supporting one side ofsaid cleaning blade and an opposed support member movable relative tosaid main support member for supporting the other side of said cleaningblade, said opposed support member being resiliently urged against saidother side of said cleaning blade to removably support said cleaningblade in said cartridge holder means. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 24. A cleaningapparatus as in claim 23, wherein said opposed support member includes arelatively thin plate spring. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 25. A cleaning apparatusas in claim 23, wherein said cleaning blade includes a support plateadjacent said other edge. .Iaddend. .Iadd.
 26. A cleaning apparatus foran electrophotographic copying device wherein an electrophotographiclatent image formed on the surface of a photosensitive member is movedpast a series of processing stations including a developing station atwhich said latent image is developed with a toner to form a toner imageand a transfer station at which said toner image is transferred tocopying material, comprising, in combination, an elastic cleaning bladefor removing residual toner from said photosensitive member aftertransfer of said toner image to said copying material, one end of saidelastic cleaning blade having a cleaning edge, holding means forsupporting the opposite end of said elastic cleaning blade and disposingsaid cleaning edge in contact against the surface of said photosensitivemember to remove said residual toner, said holder means disposing saidelastic cleaning blade relative to said photosensitive member to engagea substantially upwardly moving surface portion of said photosensitivemember, and a sheet having one edge disposed to allow the residual tonerto pass between the photosensitive member surface and said sheet, belowsaid engagement between said blade and photosensitive member, said sheetbeing positioned to receive the toner removed by said cleaning blade forguiding the removed toner to a toner receiver. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 27. Acleaning apparatus for an electrophotographic copying device wherein anelectrophotographic latent image formed on a surface of a photosensitivemember is moved past a series of processing stations including adeveloping station at which said latent image is developed with a tonerto form a toner image and a transfer station at which said toner imageis transferred to copying material, comprising, in combination: anelastic cleaning blade for scratching off said residual toner in adirection opposite to that of the movement of said photosensitivemember, after transfer of said toner image to said copying material,said blade having two abutting layers; holding means for supportingfirst ends of said abutting two layers, wherein the opposite ends ofsaid layers project outside of said holding means toward saidphotosensitive member, and wherein one of said layers has a cleaningedge disposed in contact with the surface of said photosensitive memberto remove said residual toner, said holding means disposing said onelayer to engage a substantially upwardly moving surface portion of saidphotosensitive member, wherein the other layer of said blade has ahigher modulus of elasticity than that of said one layer and is providedon the upstream side of said one layer. .Iaddend.